Antibody-mediated neutralization of virus is abrogated by mycoplasma

Abstract

The ability of a mouse mammary tumor cell line to abrogate antibody neutralization of vesicular stomatitis virus was shown to be due to the presence of mycoplasma. The mycoplasma was isolated from the cell line and typed as Mycoplasma orale. Colonies of this mycoplasma were used to deliberately infect cell cultures which then gained the capacity to reactivate antibody-neutralized virus. The extent of the reactivation depended on the source of neutralizing antiserum. Other species of mycoplasma were tested and were found to reactivate neutralized virus, indicating that this may be a general phenomenon of mycoplasma contamination.